Gunfight at High Noon (1964)

Four bandits arrive at the Walker ranch one day, looking for food and fresh mounts. By the time they leave, there are only two bandits. But three young boys have been left fatherless and Louise Walker is a widow.

Flash forward several years, and those three young boys are grown men, all determined to make the those two bandits pay for their father’s death and their mother’s grief. But they differ on how they think that can be accomplished.

Chris, the second oldest, wants to track the men down and kill them. He’s one of the fastest guns around. Jeff, the youngest, spends most of his spare time reading law books. He knows a more lawful West is on the horizon and prefers to allow the justice system to dole out punishment to the men who killed his father. Caught in the middle of the feuding brothers is Brad, the oldest.

Eventually, two of the brothers leave the ranch – Jeff because he wants to become a U.S. marshal, Chet because he’s killed a man in an argument over a card game, and it wasn’t self-defense.

Eventually, all paths lead to a south-of-the border town. Jeff arrives to find the sheriff dead and fast guns doing as they please. He throws the sheriff’s killer, a man named Palmer, in jail, then faces down three of his allies in a gunfight — thanks in part to the fact that his brothers arrive in the same town, just in the nick of time.

By that point, Chet has gunned down one of the two men who raided the Walker ranch those many years ago. And he’s discovered the identity of the third man. He happens to be a prominent citizen in the town where Jeff is sheriff, not to mention the father of the woman with whom he’s fallen in love.

Review:

An early Spaghetti Western that follows the mold of American Westerns more closely than those that would come later.

Richard Harrison got top billing as the brother dubbed “bookworm” by his siblings. But Claudio Undari has the best role as the brother who relies on a gun to settle scores, becomes almost as bad as the men he’s hunting and doesn’t trust the law to dole out justice.

The cast also includes Fernando Sancho as a former gunman, turned chef who arrives at the Walker ranch one day and stays on … until he rides off to attend a rodeo in his home town and winds up in the same one where Jeff is now sheriff.

Besides Gloria Milland as Mrs. Walker, the film features two other female actresses – Dina Loy as Mae, who falls for and marries Brad; and Gloria Osuna as Susan Westfall, who falls for Jeff.

Directed by:
Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent

Cast:
Richard Harrison … Jeff Walker
Claudio Undari … Chet Walekr
Miguel Palenzuela … Brad Walker
as Billy Hyden
Gloria Milland … Louise Walker
Fernando Sancho … Pedro Ramirez
Luis Induni … Westfall
as Andrew Scott
Gloria Osuna … Susan Westfall
as Evelyn Merril
Jose Manuel Martin … Richards
Francisco Sanz … Judge Glenn
Gasper “Indio” Gonzalez … Palmer
Emilio Rodriquez … Merrill, former deputy

Also with: Alfonso Rojas, Carlos Romero Marchent, Aldo Sambrell, Rufino Ingles, Joaquin Burgo, Madga Maldonaldo, Jose Riesgo, Rafael Vaquero, Miguel Morino, Ricardo Rodriguez, Ricardo Lillo, Marcelo Gonzalez, Joaqin Bergia, Pablito Alonso, Enrique Hernandez, Luis Miguel Arranz, Red Cameron, Freddie Toehl, Antonio Orengo, Raf Baldassarre

aka:
El sabor de la venganza
Sons of Vengeance
The Three Ruthless Ones
The Pitiless Three

Score: Riz Ortolani

Runtime: 101 min.

Memorable lines:

Louise Walker, standing graveside with her three boys: “Maybe someday when you’re grown up men, you’ll come across those thieves that murdered your father. If you do, all I ask is that they’re punished for what they did.”

Louise Walker: “When will you ever stop reading those useless books, Jeff?”
Jeff Walker: “Law books aren’t useless, mama.
Louise Walker: “Yes, they are. We only know one law. That’s the law of survival.”
Jeff: “Sooner or later, law and order will take its place.”
Brad Walker, after shooting a hole in one of those books: “That’s how you read for the law here.”

Louise Walker, of her sons: “What’s come between you all?”
Jeff Walker: “Nothing. Maybe I’m the one who’s mistaken. I just don’t understand their views.”
Louise Walker: “What is it you can’t understand? Can you tell me?”
Jeff: “It’s their hatred for everybody. That impulse to kill. I can see it in their eyes sometimes.”
Jeff Walker: “I’m putting you under arrest – for the murder of Sheriff Anderson.”
Palmer: “Am I getting drunk? Or did he say what I heard?”

Jeff Walker, as he and his brothers prepare to face off against three men determined to break Palmer out of prison: “Chet, I’m warnin’ ya. You’re on the side of the law.”
Chet: “Just this once.”

Trivia:

Along with “Gunfight at Red Sands”, this is one of two very early Spaghetti Westerns starring sword and sandal star Harrison, who found fame in Italian films after having trouble getting his Hollywood career out of first gear. He went on to star in 16 Spaghetti Westerns.

With two Westerns under his belt, producers approached Richard Harrison to do a third. But they admitted the script wasn’t very good, according to an interview Harrison did with Wild East Productions. Not wanting to be typecast as a Western actor, Harrison declined. When presented three names of other American actors who might be good for the role, he recommended Clint Eastwood, mostly because he knew Clint could ride a horse. The movie was “Fistful of Dollars,” directed by Sergio Leone.

Miguel Paenzuela as Brad Walker with Dina Lot as Mae in Gunfight at High Noon (1964)

Gasper Gonzalez (center) as Palmer with two of his gunmen friends in Gunfight at High Noon (1964)

Jose Manuel Martin as Richards in Gunfight at High Noon (1964)

Gloria Osuna as Susan Westfall, fearing the outcome of a trial will put Jeff Walker in danger in Gunfight at High Noon (1964)